Baseball theater does not get much better than Jacob deGrom on the mound and Aaron Judge at the plate.
A superstar Judge called “one of the greatest pitchers of our generation” and a slugger who has reached levels untouched since Barry Bonds locked horns in three entertaining plate appearances during the Yankees’ 4-3, walk-off win over the Rangers in The Bronx on Wednesday.
“I enjoy nights like this, going up against the best,” Judge said after going 0-2 with a walk against deGrom (and 1-for-1 with a game-tying single against the Rangers bullpen).
Judge and deGrom met in the first inning, when a pitcher who has tried throwing with less velocity and with more of a varied selection — in an attempt to stay healthy — looked an awful lot like deGrom in his prime: He ignored those secondary pitches and only went with heaters and sliders, though he lost Judge on a six-pitch walk.
The third-inning face-off ranks among the most thrilling pop-ups that baseball can produce.
DeGrom got ahead 1-2, then could not finish off Judge, who fouled off five pitches in the battle.
The former Mets ace reached back for the fastest pitch of his night, a 99.3 mph four-seamer, which Judge also fought off.
Finally, on pitch nine, Judge got underneath another fastball and lofted it into shallow right, second baseman Marcus Semien racing to catch a ball that the wind took hold of.
Judge and deGrom made eye contact, the hitter smiling and nodding his head and the pitcher sticking out his lips for an exaggerated exhale.
“Kind of just a mutual respect head nod of like, ‘All right, see you next round,’ ” said Judge, who in the final head-to-head match hit a 112.5 mph bullet but on the dirt for a groundout.
Cody Bellinger (2-for-4 with a homer) extended his hitting streak to a career-high 15 games. .
Al Leiter was back at Yankee Stadium, where his son, Jack, is on the roster for the Rangers and his nephew, Mark Leiter Jr., is in the Yankees bullpen.
Al saw Mark Jr. pitch out of a jam in The Bronx on Tuesday.
“It’s cool,’’ Al Leiter said. “You dream of stuff. I get to the big leagues and then my brother [Mark] is in the big leagues, then his kid and now my kid. … It’s great to have my son and my nephew in the big leagues at the same time.”
— Additional reporting by Dan Martin
